How is a babys sleep pattern different than an adults?
For starters, you don’t really want to sleep like a baby. Babies’ sleep, especially in the early months, is typically full of interruptions because a baby’s sleep cycle is shorter than an adult’s. Adults spend about six hours in deep sleep and two hours in light (REM) sleep, usually in one uninterrupted nighttime period. When we’re in a light sleep cycle, we may wake up momentarily–but, unlike babies, we know how to go back to sleep. Babies have twice as many light sleep cycles as adults, more light sleep than deep sleep, and their overall sleep cycles are shorter. What does this mean for a household? Often, interrupted sleep for all. Babies are likely to wake up frequently as they move from deep to light sleep in any sleep cycle. In the early months, babies need help falling asleep and getting back to sleep. And often, you’ll have to spend a lot of time helping an infant get into a deep enough sleep so you can lay her down. Every new parent has had the frustrating experience of gentl
